The Perils of Rewriting History
by MACRA
Summary: Vaatu has a cunning plan, and he wants Wan Shi Tongs help. This can't end well.


Author's Note: Entry for the fourth round of Season 4 of the Pro-Bending Circuit. What would AtLA and/or LoK be like without one character?

Words (excluding author's note): 1797

Prompts used: (restriction) Only one person can have dialogue; (quote) "The world does so well without me, that I am moved to wish that I could do equally well without the world."

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Wan Shi Tong stamped irritably in front of the lectern. At last he had found a treatise on the human invention of radio. Unfortunately he could not make one ounce of sense out of it. Resonant frequencies? Tunable circuits? Signal modulation? He was starting to suspect that the author had just been making words up. The little-man-in-the-box explanation was starting to seem more attractive. He turned the page of the book with his beak and was confronted by another "circuit diagram." It looked like something that should be carved on the wall of a lost Sun Warrior temple.

So the master of the spirit library was not in the best of moods when a small black spirit began flitting about his head. He narrowed his eyes at his visitor. "Vaatu. I am surprised to find you so recovered. After the debacle at Harmonic Convergence, I thought it would be at least a couple of centuries before you were able to show your… well I suppose we can call it your face for the sake of argument."

The kite shaped spirit throbbed in the air before his eyes. Wan Shi Tong winced. "Please don't speak directly into my mind. It's rude."

Vaatu ignored his request. Wan Shi Tong clicked his beak in annoyance. He supposed that the ancient spirit was embarrassed by the fact that if it spoke physically in this state, anything it said would come out in a high squeaky voice. "Yes, well sorry as I am to see you in such, a-heh, reduced circumstances, I doubt there's anything I can do for you, so I shall return to my reading."

 _The fundamental wave length of a coil aerial is that which is radiated by the coil when no capacitance is present in the circuit except that between the turns of the coil itself. As a guiding rule it may be stated that…_

Vaatu settled on the book like a large malevolent ink blot. "Confound it!" Wan Shi Tong said. "Why can't you leave me to study in peace?" Vaatu fluttered. "Don't be snide," Wan Shi Tong answered. "I'll figure it out. Eventually."

"Anyway," the spirit librarian continued, "Our past association does not make me keen to resume assisting you." Vaatu looked hurt, inasmuch as a creature with no clearly identifiable eyes and mouth could. A question forced itself into Wan Shi Tong's head. "Why? You mean aside from the fact I 'backed the wrong ostrich-horse,' as they say? When that buffoon Unalaq first approached me, I admit I was tempted by the thoughts of one of the ancient philosophers. 'The world does so well without me, that I am moved to wish that I could do equally well without the world.' However, I can't do without the world. That's where all the books come from."

Vaatu rose up from the book and floated directly in front of Wan Shi Tong's eyes. The Librarian sighed. "Since your idea is bound to be idiotic, I will assist you long enough for you to realize it yourself. Anything for some peace and quiet. What is your scheme?" The ideas started trickling into his brain before he even finished speaking. "Change the past, so the Avatar is not a threat to you? I'll grant you that it's ambitious. It has the slight flaw that no one actually knows how to do that. Yes, I grant you that the Tree of Time is probably a good place to start. But what change would achieve that?"

The image of a young woman presented itself in Wan Shi Tong's mind. There was something vaguely familiar about her. Oh, yes. She had visited the Spirit World with the Avatar a few years back. They had been fawning over each other rather disgustingly. "You want to remove the Sato woman from time? That… is possibly not a monumentally stupid idea."

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The two spirits stood before the Tree of Time. Or rather Wan Shi Tong stood. Vaatu fluttered. "Now let me do all the talking," Wan Shi Tong said. Vaatu objected, not surprisingly, to anything that suggested he was in a subordinate role. "You and I are barely on speaking terms," Wan Shi Tong answered. "I can barely conceive the depths to which I would detest you if you had been imprisoned inside me for ten thousand years. Keep quiet, and we may be able to actually accomplish something."

Even with this precaution, the wave of disapproval that came from the Tree as the pair crossed into its interior was nearly overwhelming. Wan Shi Tong restrained an urge to glance at Vaatu. He would just have to trust that his companion wouldn't do anything stupid. There had to be a first time for everything. "Honored Tree. We seek understanding of the imprint of a particular human on history. Please show us the life of Asami Sato."

Images started to form in front of them, moments of a life flitting past like lightning birds. Even viewing the life a mere human, it was breathtaking. Of course Vaatu had to stick his oar in. "Because," Wan Shi Tong said with strained patience, "we have to understand her life as it has been to understand where it would be useful to change it. To illustrate my point, an obvious moment has already been revealed to us. The day her mother died. It would not be so large a change for the daughter to die at the same time. Please show us how this affects the Avatar's life."

New images formed before Wan Shi Tong's eyes. The Fire Ferrets being turned away from the Pro-Bending finals ( _Ridiculous sport, anyway_ , he thought). The Avatar forming her relationship with the man with the ridiculous eyebrows earlier than in reality and breaking up with him earlier as well. He clicked his beak with annoyance. The Equalist uprising was put down without them even seizing control of the city. In turn giving the Avatar more time to train in peace, leaving her better equipped to handle the events of Harmonic Convergence. Vaatu was displeased.

"I don't see why I get the blame for the flaws in your plan. True, the Sato woman was a powerful ally to the Avatar, but her father was a powerful ally to the Equalists. Apparently losing his wife and daughter on the same day was too demoralizing for him, and without his gadgets the Equalists simply do not pose the same level of threat." Wan Shi Tong considered the problem. "There's nothing to do but examine if there are other points in her life that are equally vulnerable, where her loss is not felt so disastrously by her father."

An hour's worth of trial and error brought no better result than making Wan Shi Tong and Vaatu increasingly annoyed with each other. "Face it, Vaatu. All we have learned is that Asami Sato did not face many dangers where a small change in events leads to her death. And that none of them, if manipulated, are not devastating to her father. It's not worth getting upset about. I told you at the beginning that this was likely an academic exercise."

Vaatu was not to be deterred. "I suppose," Wan Shi Tong said with a sigh, "we could try that. I'm not convinced that Miss Sato would stay on the sidelines even if we were to prevent her from meeting the Avatar and her friends. She really did not approve of her father's choices. We can but see what happens. I suppose a small diversion, like a flat tire, to prevent her from running into the young man."

The Tree promptly brought up a new set of images. Wan Shi Tong thought he caught a hint of smug amusement in the Tree's thoughts as they appeared. The Avatar at a grand party, and the odious water tribe politician introducing her to the Satos. "It should perhaps not be a surprise, prominent citizens getting to know each other." The images of the party continued. The librarian cleared his throat as the images focused on the Avatar in conversation with the Sato woman. "I am no expert in human behavior, but they appear to be flirting. Yes, I know it's not what you wanted. I'm not particularly pleased either. I saw far too much of that sort of thing already when they visited my library."

Vaatu was nothing if not tenacious. "Yes, yes, very well. We can search for a point after the Equalist uprising where she can be removed from events. For all the good it will do you." The best result was rather gruesome. The Avatar distracted for a moment, long enough to prevent her from pulling Sato out of the way of an arrow fired blindly by that certifiable loon Varrick. "You see. The Avatar saddened by her friend's death, but still determined. She still beats you. Sato had her own concerns at this time, which you would have known if you had been paying attention on our first viewing of her life."

Vaatu just watched as the events continued past the point where the Avatar defeated him. The Avatar, exiled from Republic City, forced to travel by sky bison instead of by airship. The Avatar and her friends unable to save the new Airbenders from imprisonment in Ba Sing Se. The Avatar captured by the Red Lotus, with no one left able to rescue her from poison and death. And the end of the Avatar cycle. Vaatu was exultant.

"This smacks more of petty revenge than what you lead me to believe was the point of this exercise." Vaatu's thoughts were unspeakably smug. Wan Shi Tong sighed. "Granted, you won't have the Avatar to deal with, but Raava…" The words were scarcely out of his mouth when new images formed. The Spirit of Light and Harmony, freed of her earthly host, returned to the Spirit Realm, and apparently not diminished from her experiences. They saw her towering over the still small figure of Vaatu and… Wan Shi Tong winced. "I think it would take you considerably longer than ten thousand years to recover from _that_."

For once, Vaatu had nothing to say. Looking as downcast as an abstractly kite-like being could, he floated out of the Tree of Time and away across the plane.

Wan Shi Tong waited until the dark spirit was out of earshot before saying. "That last bit seemed a touch over the top. While I'm sure Raava does get attached to humans who are close to the Avatar, how would she know…" The image shifted again to the Great Spirit Library. Or more accurately, its remains. Its wall shattered, the shelves overturned, knowledge seekers prowling the ruins keening mournfully.

Wan Shi Tong shivered. "Point taken."

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Additional Author's Note: The text from Wan Shi Tong's book on radios comes from "The Principles Underlying Radio Communication," published by the United States Army Signal Corps in 1919. Thank you, Google Books.


End file.
